Posted in California, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged deepwater Gulf of Mexico, Huntington Beach, Oilers, Perdido on May 12, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Huntington Beach athletic teams are still known as the “Oilers,” despite calls for change.
Exploration and development have improved dramatically over the past 100 years, and have become much more efficient. Only 57 platforms are producing about 1.7 million barrels/day in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Still work to do and continuous improvement must always be the objective.
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Uncategorized, tagged Big Fin Squid, chemosynthetic communities, Gulf of Mexico, Perdido, Shell on January 20, 2023| Leave a Comment »
A rare photo of a Big-Fin Squid, caught on camera on November 11th 2007 by a Shell Oil company ROV, at a depth of 2,386 meters (1.5 miles). This species of Squid dwell at extreme depths, and are characterised by their long, thin tentacles. They can reach almost 20ft long when fully grown.
Hasan Jasim
ROV video:
Of course, much of our knowledge about deepwater biology is attributable to oil and gas exploration and the associated environmental studies. This includes the discovery and study of chemosynthetic communities in the Gulf of Mexico:
Some of the same conditions responsible for petroleum deposits also provide the basis for biological communities that receive energy from chemicals through a process called chemosynthesis (in contrast to photosynthesis that provides energy to terrestrial and shallow-water communities through processes in which sunlight is the basic energy source).
NOAA
Posted in energy, Offshore Energy - General, Uncategorized, tagged Independence Day, July 4th, offshore energy, Perdido on July 4, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Perdido, Gulf of Mexico
Special thanks to the offshore workers who help provide the energy needed for a free and independent society.
Posted in energy, Offshore Energy - General, Uncategorized, tagged Gulf of Mexico, Perdido, SpaceX Dragon, spars on November 12, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Which platform is pictured in the International Space Station photo (re-posted below)? It is clearly a spar (basically a large vertically floating cylinder), and like most GoM spars appears to be the truss type (see diagram below depicting spar types). There are currently 18 GoM spars (list in table below). Looking at photos of these spars, my guess is that the SpaceX Dragon is pictured above Perdido (bottom photo).
| Name | Operator | Water Depth | Spar Type | Installed |
| Horn Mountain | Anadardo | 5400′ | truss | 2002 |
| Front Runner | Murphy | 3330′ | truss | 2004 |
| Gunnison | Anadarko | 3150 | truss | 2003 |
| Constitution | Anadarko | 4970 | truss | 2005 |
| Neptune | Fieldwood | 1930 | classic | 1996 |
| Boomvang | Anadarko | 3650 | truss | 2002 |
| Devil’s Tower | Eni | 5610 | truss | 2004 |
| Tahiti | Chevron | 4000 | truss | 2008 |
| Genesis | Chevron | 2590 | classic | 1998 |
| Holstein | Anadarko | 4340 | truss | 2004 |
| Hoover | Exxon | 4825 | classic | 2000 |
| Perdido | Shell | 7835 | truss | 2009 |
| Lucius | Anadarko | 7000 | truss | 2014 |
| Medusa | Murphy | 2223 | truss | 2003 |
| Mad Dog | BP | 4420 | truss | 2004 |
| Nansen | Anadarko | 3675 | truss | 2001 |
| Gulfstar | Hess | 4600 | classic | 2014 |
| Heidelberg | Anadarko | 5300 | truss | 2016 |
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 